Monday, March 25, 2002
Kurosawa, Tron and Thoughts about E.T.
Just finished a night of boycotting the Oscars with a night of movie watching. I've been disgruntled about the Oscars ever since Chariots of Fire beat Raiders of the Lost Ark for Best Picture over 20 years ago. Not to mention later years when Gandhi won Best Costume, and Harrison Ford lost Best Actor to...well, I don't even know who he lost to, but I was pissed. This year I finally decided to skip the whole thing and just watch some movies I knew I would enjoy. I finally watched The Hidden Fortress and followed it up with a healthy dose of the 80s with Tron.
As far as The Hidden Fortress goes, it was a wonderfully entertaining film; much less serious than the Seven Samurai or Yojimbo. Kurosawa's influence on George Lucas is quite evident, mostly on a technical level, using wipes instead of fades, and long lenses to shoot characters in the foreground. You can see bits of this film used throughout the Star Wars trilogy. All in all, definitely worth seeing on it's own, but priceless if you are serious fan of Star Wars.
I just noticed that I have a twenty year old, well-read copy of the Tron novelization in my bookcase. Huh. So, I guess it's not at all surprising that I really enjoyed Tron. The special effects are still impressive and Bruce Boxleitner is still adorable. If only there the arcade around here had the Tron game. That was always one of my favorites. Never could defeat those damn spider things. The intro on the DVD also plugged the website for the upcoming sequel, Tron Killer App. It is light on content, but a pretty good tease.
I have plans to go see E.T. next weekend, and I'm really looking forward to seeing one of my favorite childhood movies again. I have mixed emotions about some of the digital "enhancements" Spielberg has implemented, such as changing Elliot's brother's Halloween costume idea to "hippie" instead of "terrorist," and replacing the guns used by the Feds at the end with walkie talkies. Slate offers ideas on how to enhance some of his other films here. Very funny.
You know, I do actually do things other than watch sci-fi movies and tv shows. Really, I do. I'm actually reading a book about professional Scrabble players right now. (Cause that makes me seem like LESS of a geek...)
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¶ 1:46 AM
As far as The Hidden Fortress goes, it was a wonderfully entertaining film; much less serious than the Seven Samurai or Yojimbo. Kurosawa's influence on George Lucas is quite evident, mostly on a technical level, using wipes instead of fades, and long lenses to shoot characters in the foreground. You can see bits of this film used throughout the Star Wars trilogy. All in all, definitely worth seeing on it's own, but priceless if you are serious fan of Star Wars.
I just noticed that I have a twenty year old, well-read copy of the Tron novelization in my bookcase. Huh. So, I guess it's not at all surprising that I really enjoyed Tron. The special effects are still impressive and Bruce Boxleitner is still adorable. If only there the arcade around here had the Tron game. That was always one of my favorites. Never could defeat those damn spider things. The intro on the DVD also plugged the website for the upcoming sequel, Tron Killer App. It is light on content, but a pretty good tease.
I have plans to go see E.T. next weekend, and I'm really looking forward to seeing one of my favorite childhood movies again. I have mixed emotions about some of the digital "enhancements" Spielberg has implemented, such as changing Elliot's brother's Halloween costume idea to "hippie" instead of "terrorist," and replacing the guns used by the Feds at the end with walkie talkies. Slate offers ideas on how to enhance some of his other films here. Very funny.
You know, I do actually do things other than watch sci-fi movies and tv shows. Really, I do. I'm actually reading a book about professional Scrabble players right now. (Cause that makes me seem like LESS of a geek...)
END OF LINE
¶ 1:46 AM
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